Friday, July 31, 2009

Got some previews for you from what I did today. The above image is from something I'll link you to in just a couple of weeks (secrets secrets, I know). And below is a page of thumbnails from my big freelance job this summer. If you're curious how my pages start, this is it! Small, rough, and chock full of errors! :P But I have to start somewhere, you know. And this way, it can only get better.

Drawing all day/not leaving the house takes its toll on your appearance. I had my hair in a bun and was wearing a dress, cardigan, slippers, glasses, and no bra all day. @____@ I got a glimpse today of what Crazy Grandma Nourigat will look like!!!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

I LOOOOOVE Infomania. New favorite show. <3 It's on Current TV Thursday nights at 10.

My friend Emily got me into Sarah Haskins this year, and we would squeal on our couch every time she released a new video.

I decided to try Infomania because the clips we were watching came from a larger show, and maybe there would be more Sarah Haskins on it.Sadly, there is not. Happily, there is a lot of other talent on that show. I am loving all of the small sideshows to the Soup-esque main segment--there's Sarah Haskin's Target Women, Suggested Summer Reading, Infomania Editorial, That's Gay, and Viral Video Film School to name a few. Observe! (Demo Reel segment around 12:00 is the greatest thing ever!!!)

In general, it was an awesome trip and an awesome con. I loved San Diego (it was my first time in the city), the weather was balmy and pleasant, if humid, we had good food and I felt safe walking around the city, even alone and at night (haha, the things you don't tell your parents...). I could definitely see going to San Diego just for a fun trip, and it seems like a livable city from what I saw.

The con itself was great as well. It was very crowded, and there was a lot more time spent waiting in lines than I'd anticipated (great quote I heard: "What is this line for?" "Something that nerds want."). You couldn't go to everything you wanted--you just had to pick a couple of things per day and accept that it would take time waiting in line to even get into them. The floor got pretty bad on Friday, but Saturday was not as awful as I'd been warned it would be. There were tons of great exhibitors, from comic publishers to movie studios to individual artists to the voice of Dr. Tran (trip highlight!). :P I know I missed more than half of what I could have seen at the con, but I am so pleased by what I did see, I am alright with that.

I am already excited for next year! Though I'm told there is a diminishing return to going to SDCC, I am still in the honeymoon phase with it. <3

I went to three great instructional panels during Comic-Con, and I'd like to pass on the general points they made:

Marketing Indie Comics

Send postcards to potential buyers

The trend in our economy is a move to niche markets and combining small audiences (example: Penny Arcade uses jokes that only 8% of the audience will get, but this creates loyalty and an 'inside joke' feeling among that 8%)

"Be shameless" - write people again if they don't respond the first time. They may have simply misplaced your first e-mail...you'll never know if you don't try again

Seek out bloggers and reviewers to mention your work/mini/book - format the e-mail so that it can easily be copy-pasted into a blog entry; this will make it very appealing to the blogger since it's instant, easy content. Just make sure it is free of grammatical erros and has no strange formatting. Aim for under 400 words and include only small jpeg files. Don't forget to mention the release date!

Print outside of the US to keep your costs and prices down (China, Korea have printing services to US)

You can actually negotiate prices with printers for a better rate; if you are printing 5,000 copies, they want your business and may bend the rules to get it

Haven (alternative to Diamond distribution)

Cross-promote laterally (same size, different people audiences, like among webcomics)

Breaking Into Comics - Jessica Leigh Clark-Bojin (Zeros2Heroes)This panel was on alternative ways to earn a "first professional credit" in order to bypass the catch-22 of needing professional experience to be hired by a publisher. This was by far the best presentation I saw all weekend, with a great speaker, great PowerPoint, and great content.

Facts: If you are a jaw-dropping artist or writer, you will find work, no matter what your other skills are. If you suck as an artist or writer, you will not find work, no matter what your other skills are. But what if you are in-between? What can help push you over and make you appealing for employers? The answer: professional credit. Big names on your resume say that an established company trusted you, and they took the biggest risk by employing you first, making it easier for later companies to trust you.

Known options for breaking into comics:1. Partner with an emerging artist/writer2. Pay a professional artist (if you are a writer)3. Enter competitions

Alternatives:You can sidestep the gatekeepers by partnering with organizations other than comic book publishers. Some examples:-The Federal Government (there are actually funds for making comics to educate the public about comics. What else might there be in federal funding? Suggest something!)-Broadcasters-Educators-Public Cultural Funds-Entertainment Companies (often test properties by releasing a comic with the hook and main characters first to see how it sells)-Private Institutions (Companies have found that sending information to employees by posting it in comic format in bathrooms is much more effective than sending out a memo. Suggest this to a business!)-The Legion-Heritage Groups-Local Religious Groups-Local Cultural Groups (ranging from gay rights groups to the humane society, and any other group you may have in your area)

Send a 'One Sheet Cover' to your target groups: who you are, what you want, and what's in it for the other person/group. Prove that you are the person to pull it off with a work sample or previous work. Suggest how they might put you to work, help them picture it.

Be a pro: Set the budget, schedule payments and delivery milestones, create contracts for you and your partners (including writers, artists, letterers, and the employer), manage the workflow, conduct meetings, and deliver a great product on time.

"Just because there's a ladder in front of you doesn't mean you have to climb it. Come at it from the side or back--or fly over and parachute down."

Aim for a short, punchy, memorable, and easy to spell url for your webcomic. The shorter, the better

Promote to scenes outside of comics, or people in other subcultures/scenes/demographics who may enjoy your work--if you make comics about knitting, try promoting them to knitters instead of comics readers

"Please RT this" be shameless with that phrase on Twitter--it can reach a lot of people

Also, don't forget to tweet updates. It's what twitter is best for

Make artwork embedable so it can become viral. Just make sure that your name and a link back to your site are attached

Don't worry about your work being stolen--posting on the internet and having your work reposted gives you great exposure, and the original post serves as proof that you uploaded it first if you ever get into a legal spiff.

One of the best parts of the trip was the Friday line-up in Hall H (the largest room in the convention center, holding 6,500).

I wanted to see Hayao Miyazaki at the Disney/Pixar panel at 12:45, but to get a seat in the room, let alone a decent one, you had to go very early and sit through whatever panels came before it, since they didn't empty the room between presentations.

I was planning on going early Friday morning, since seeing Miyazaki was the single Comic-Con event I was most looking forward to and I wanted to be sure to get in, but I had a panic attack on Thursday night, imagining a line forming as I was eating dinner, and my chance to see him slipping away, so decided to just camp out overnight to be safe.I joined a line of about 10 people that had formed by 11pm, and slept out there overnight until they let us in the next morning at 9. Over that time I met some fun people, including a group of boys behind me in line who were saving on hotel costs by camping out each night in whatever line was forming for Hall H. They knew how to do it in style! Airmattresses, a hooka, and fireworks, lol. They made the experience much more fun, and let me use their airmattress for about 6 hours of sleep. :) And actually, they are the reason I got such a good seat inside, because some idiot in the front row would not answer me as I stood in front of him asking, "Is this seat taken?! Is this seat taken??!!" while the room was filling up around me. They saved me a seat in the second row, and I am eternally grateful!Joelle and Jamie heard that I was camping out and came over to see me, despite having partied and probably being in the mood to crash in the hotel room. They were so sweet!! They brought me a pillow and blanket and were like, "Seriously, text us if you need anything!!" Terry brought me coffee at like 8:00 in the morning, too...such good friends I have!! What would I do without them?

So the first presentation, which I did not initially care about but had to sit through to keep my seat for Miyazaki, was by Warner Brothers at 10:00. It actually turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the whole weekend. They screened about 10 minutes of new footage for each of the films they were promoting: Where the Wild Things Are, Jonah Hex, Sherlock Holmes, The Book of Eli, Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Box. There's a nice summary of it here.What I personally enjoyed so much about this panel, though, was the star-studdery! Robert Downey Jr., Rachel McAdams, Megan Fox, Mila Kunis, Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Cameron Diaz, and James Marsden were all great, and it was so surreal to see them in person. Being in the middle of the second row, I was about 20 feet from each of them in turn, and I was just shocked by the experience of seeing celebrities in person (hur hur hur, Oregonian moment). The lighting must have reached the first few rows, too, because I could make eye contact with the people sitting on stage when they scanned the audience. It felt really cool!Oh, and the actresses were gorgeous! You can tell yourself it's lighting, the makeup artist, and photoshop, but they are all truly beautiful, even in a very normal environment.Robert Downey Jr.'s announcement made the crowd scream, stand up, and surge toward the stage, and his presentation during the panel really stood up to that anticipation. He's very funny and quick-witted, and it was really fun listening to him answer crowd questions.

Then, finally, came the Disney/Pixar animation panel! (Matt Goldberg has 2 good posts up describing the panel) They showed previews of Beauty and the Beast in 3-D (nice glasses provided by Dolby), Toy Story 2 in 3-D, Toy Story 3, The Frog Princess, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, and Prep and Landing, and there were many talented creators there to present and discuss the films. Miyazaki was the big name, though...you could tell by the crowd reaction and the fact that they saved him for last. He came out very modestly and reluctantly, and conducted his interview in a very understated fashion. He used a translator for the interview and Q&A, and I felt kind of bad for him seeing how he wanted to know what was being said but having to wait for it to be passed on to him, and then feeling pressure to answer quickly when he might have wanted to think it over. Can you imagine addressing a room that big in a foreign language?? Blegh. Anyway, it was truly worth waiting for, and the single highlight of my trip to see and hear him in person. I recorded the entire thing on my camera, which was evil and never quite focused on him, but which I will post anyway soon enough. Again, I was so close to the stage that I could see the seams in his clothing, and it was really, really special to see him looking out at the crowd and at me occassionally. He would watch the crowd as footage played behind him on the big screen, and I tried to look animated and appreciative for that. :)The Ponyo footage was very exciting--we saw a clip embodying the original and difficult portrayals of the ocean in the film. This scene created an ocean of teeming fish, which looked like it was hell to draw. I also got a preview of Tina Fey as the mother, and saw a bit of her character in the film. All in all, I am very excited to see it. On the negative side, though, I was admittedly a little disappointed by the backgrounds in the clip. They were sparse and...hmm...drawn plainly with colored pencil? What? Tell me this will make more sense in the context of the film...I mean, does it work as an embodiment of the main characters youth...???I was a little concerned.Oh, but the Frog Princess is looking great--we got to see the entirety of the classic Disney bad-guy song, and it was awesome!!! So much more excited about that movie than I was. :)And of course, Toy Story 3! So stoked. But I was already.

It was a great con for new reading material--besides the tons of free reading from random pass-outs and gift bags, I got plenty o' swag and merchandise from friends and creators at the convention. Notables include:

Joelle Jones - Okay, besides being an effing prodigy of an artist, Joelle is an extremely generous person. She gave me not only copies of her new sketchbook based on the 7 Deadly Sins and a copy of Token, but an original page from You Have Killed Me, her latest graphic novel written by Jamie Rich, AND sketches from a new project (I so wish I could tell you about but can't). :) They are great, though, and that project is going to be fantastic! Joelle gets +1000 fan points. <3

Steve Lieber - Steve gave me a copy of the promotional first issue of his and Jeff Parker's series Underground, coming from Image this fall (for free!! Can you believe that guy??). You can preview the first issue online, but it was nice to read it in book format. I don't know...something about turning pages. I do know that I am very excited to see the 5 finished issues!

David Hahn - I picked up David's new "Late Nighter" sketchbook, which is full of his character designs, new ideas, and practice panels. It's a great demonstration of his skills, and fun to read!

Ted Naifeh - I saw the cover for Polly and the Pirates at Oni Press's booth, and was immediately curious. After Terry explained the basic premise, I was like, "Let's go, I already know I want to buy this." xD; It's awesome--a great premise with a lot of cute and exciting elements, and all done in a very fresh and readable way. I liked Naifeh's Courtney Crumrin series, and Polly and the Pirates is great in the same way, without repeating material from CC.

Warner Brothers - WB put together a great gift bag for people who attended their panel on Friday and redeemed a ticket at their booth. The bag contained a Whiteout carabiner, paper hat mimicking Max's crown from Where The Wild Things Are, a small plastic toy version of the box from The Box, a Nightmare on Elm Street T-shirt (sadly about 8 sizes too big...), and a Final Destination 3D button.

Top Shelf - Top Shelf was handing out their 2009 catalog, chock-full of samples, reviews, and info on their publications.

VIZ - Viz Media put out your basic Sneak Peek book, with chapters from 6 manga titles. I enjoy these things a lot, because I love having a wide variety of art on hand for reference and inspiration, without weighing down my bookshelf with an entire volume of a single series.

Yen Plus - Again, I love my anthologies. I buy Yen Plus from time to time to have on hand for a sampling of new art in many styles. I do this with Japanese manga magazines as well, and just recycle the old volumes.

I was kind of surprised at myself, but seeing famous people at Comic-Con was really exciting! I think that some of my favorite moments were meeting and seeing celebrities.

So at the Warner Brother's panel, obviously, there was Robert Downey Jr., Rachel McAdams, Megan Fox, Mila Kunis, Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Cameron Diaz, and James Marsden, and that was really cool, but I explained that in my post here.

Oni Press, United Talent Agency, and Entertainment Arts threw a party Friday night with a star-studded guest list, and I got to meet Masi Oka from Heroes and Enver Gjokaj and Fran Kranz from Dollhouse. They were all so cool!!!! I could not believe they were even putting up with some fangirl at an after-hours party, but they were really kind and unassuming and willing to talk about their shows with me. I really appreciated it! And if I liked those shows before, you can bet I'm even more excited for the new seasons knowing that the cast members are so cool! <3Joss and Zack Whedon, Dichen Lachman, Alan Tudyk, and Maurissa Tancharoen were also at that party, but I was too shy to do anything other than creepily stare. *face palm* Apparently Zachary Quinto was there, too, but I didn't see him, and I kind of died inside when I found out the next day. Still, same party, right?!

And of course, our man Hayao Miyazaki was the cherry on my Comic-Con sundae. Being so close to him at the Disney/Pixar panel was AMAZING. It actually meant something to me to see him in person and hear his voice, even with the availability of interview footage, etc. in our day and age. It felt magical, to be honest. <3 Best decision ever to camp out for that panel.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Sketches of Delilah I did on the trip with my new brushpen:Sadly, the ol' brushpen was not a good flier. It spewed all of it's ink on the first drawing (ugh, and dripped, which bled through 2 pages), then promptly ran out of ink. Must go buy a new cartridge today. :-/ Lesson learned.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Hey all! I'm back from Comic-Con, and there will be a series of posts all about that, but for now I have a music-related post:

I just heard 'United States of Eurasia' off of Muse's upcoming album ('The Resistance'), and it is fantastic. I love this band so much, it's a thrill to hear some new music from them. They may go a little heavy on the Queen around 1:24, but I am excited for the promised new influences on this album, whatever they may be.Have a taste (video is fan-made):

In other news, Portland's own 94.7 fm has a program called Perfect Playlist every workday at 5pm, where a single listener gets to cue up their personal playlist of 5 songs, and has the option to come to the station and talk to the host, Gustav, between songs. I sent mine in last week, and got a reply saying that mine may go on the air sometime soon! I would be so excited. Anyway, if that happens I'll definitely link you to their site, where you can stream the program. :)

I finished my portfolio today (PHEW), so I took the evening off to make......It had to happen. :P I love Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's work more than anything else in the art world. Princess Mononoke is the reason I started imitating anime and manga styles, studying Japanese, writing stories for comics, and eventually drawing comics. Nausicaa is my favorite of all of the Ghibli movies, and my favorite Ghibli character. I drew her here at the base of the poisoned forest, in the outfit she wore in the manga for this scene.If it's humanly possible, you can bet I'll be in the panel Miyazaki speaks at this week in San Diego, and I will bring this on the sliver of a chance that I can give it to him. >3< I'll watercolor it tomorrow (and hopefully not destroy it with my developing watercolor skills :P), then scan the final version for y'all.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Testing out my dad's monitor hooked up to my laptop--it's such a difference! I can see the entire width of a comic page as I tone it at 100% view. I have a 17" screen on my laptop, so it's not tiny tiny, but it sure is nice to have a full-sized monitor.

Still toning the Oni Press talent search pages. It's getting down to brass tacks before Comic-Con. My goal was to print everything for my portfolio yesterday (ha. ha.), so there will be many, many hours of art today and tomorrow to try and print everything before the end of Monday. I don't have a single finished page of The Second Witch of Wilheim, which I was hoping to pitch at the con...just the script and thumbnails. Le sigh. No matter how diligent I am, there are always 5 projects waiting for their chance to be drawn. It's a real bummer I didn't make time for this one, though. I can't blame anyone but myself. I went camping, went to parties and birthdays and movies, and watched TV when I could have drawn. I value the time I spend with my friends and family more than usual now, since it's my last summer at home, and the last summer that many of my friends will ever live in Portland. Hopefully there will be places I can send my unsolicited submission in September, but it would really have been nice to shop it around at Comic-Con, in person, when some publishers are more open to new creators.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Trying to nail down a style for Delilah.Connor, Delilah, and Baruccus from Second Witch of Wilheim. The brush pen is a dream for sketching Baruccus, who is just a black silhouette. There's no way to tell what the finished ink will look like when I sketch him with a pencil, but with the brush pen, I can fill in the lines in 10 seconds and see!Sketch shit. The anatomy that St. Tail taught me vs. an actual face, and then more sketches of Connor from SWW.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Here's a preview of the cover for my senior thesis comic, tentatively titled The Second Witch of Wilheim. If all goes according to plan, this will be a self-contained 100-150 comic to accompany a research paper on comics' societal influence, and cover my thesis requirement to graduate from the UO honors college (due this coming May). I am very excited about the story and some of the things I'll get to draw. Action, magic, animals, old houses, and environments, ganbarimasu!I've been using brushes more and more to ink this year, and think I'm finally ready to try a serious, full-length story like SWW with them. It'll be challenging for sure, but I really like the feel of brush lineart opposed to nibs or pens. A nice alternative to using a brush is the brush pen, which Emi swears by and encouraged me to try. I finally bought a Pentel brush pen and tested it out by branding a new sketchbook:I really like it! I want to try drawing more with it. :)

Too many dicks on the dance floorToo many dicks on the dance floorToo many dicksToo many dicks on the dance floorToo many dicksToo many dicks on the dance floorToo many dicks

Going to the partySippin' on BacardiWanna meet a hottieBut there's Adam, Steve and MartyThere's Billy, Todd and TommyThey're on leave from the armyThe only boobs I'll see tonight will be made of origami

Tell the players, make it understoodIt ain't no good if there's too much woodMake sure you know before you goThe dance floor bro-hoe ratioFive to one is a brodeoTell Steve and Mike it's time to goWait outside all night to findTwenty dudes in a conga line

Too many dicks on the dance floorEasy to fixToo many dicks on the dance floorSpread out the dicks

Too many dudesWith too many dicksToo close to my shitToo hard to meet chicksI need better oddsMore broads, less rodsI came to do battleScadaddle with the cattle prods

Too many menToo many boysToo many mistersNot enough sistersToo much time on, too many handsNot enough ladies, too many mans

Too many dicksToo many dongsToo many schlongsNow sing this song

And I thought it was just a Soup joke, but Joel McHale really is going to to be on an NBC show called Community this fall! It's early Christmas! 8-D I perused his wiki page, and was sad to find that he is about ten years older than I'd guessed, with about one more wife and two more children xD; But I will still be an avid fan.

Friday, July 3, 2009

I'm on vacation with the family this week, and going just a little bit crazy being away from art projects. They left me alone today while they went out on a boat trip, and good God, I've been playing board games with myself virtually the whole time. @__@

I have my computer though, so I've done some work on the two eligible scripts for my senior thesis comic, and 90% chosen the shorter, more commercial of the two. Hopefully I can finish some art before SDCC and take it with me.